Ocean Dream Cruise Ship Infected with Flu Quarantined in Aruba

Swine Flu in Aruba? According to Amigoe, a Mexican cruise ship which had up to 50 cases of flu contamination was quarantined in Aruba.

UPDATE I: Passengers may leave Ocean Dream

ORANJESTAD — Most of the passengers of the cruise ship Ocean Dream were allowed to leave the ship this morning, except for the three crewmembers that contracted the Mexican influenza. Passengers with influenza symptoms must remain in quarantine aboard the ship for at least seven days. If these passengers actually are infected with the AH1N1-virus, then the ship will be held under arrest for a longer period. The first to leave the ship, were the four Arubans upon explicit request of the authorities.

50 Year Old Alabama Woman Michelle Vilborg Reported Overboard the Cruise Ship Carnival Holiday

Another passenger has been reported as having gone overboard on a cruise ship. This time it is 50 year old Michelle Vilborg who was reported overboard on the cruise ship Carnival Holiday at approximately 12 am CDT. A passenger had reported hearing a splash in the water at 11 pm CDT as the cruise ship was about 70 miles southwest of Pensacola, Florida.

Efforts were made by crew members to find the woman who had gone overboard; however, attempts were unsuccessful.

 Search on for woman missing from cruise ship

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Man Overboard & Missing … 18 Year Old Bruce O’Krepki Goes Overboard on the Cruise Ship Carnival Fantasy

Not again? If its a cruise ship, then someone must have gone overboard, again. This time the incident happened aboard the Carnival Fantasy. At some point they are either going to have to put plexi-glass up around the perimeter of a ship like a Hockey Arena or a safety net around these ships.

18 year old Bruce O’Krepki has gone overboard on the cruise ship Carnival Fantasy Sunday night. O’Krepki is a recent high school graduate and was aboard the Carnival Fantasy with 35 other classmates. The US Coast Guard is searching for the missing 18 year old who went overboard about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida.

Bruce O’Krepki went overboard from the Carnival Fantasy at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, the Coast Guard said.

O’Krepki is from Hammond, La., where The Daily Star newspaper reported that he recently graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School. He was with about 35 classmates on the ship.

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Central Bank of Aruba Says Aruba in Further Economic Decline … Aruba Haunted by Natalee Holloway

Down down, down … and once again, it is not the B-52’s singing Lock Lobster.

Just when Aruba claimed it was safe to go back in the water and things were better in Aruba following the turmoil, unrest and distrust from their actions in dealing with the investigation of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, the Central of Aruba now says Aruba is in further economic decline. Tax revenues down, overnight visitors down, number of residing visitors down, cruise ship passengers down, cruise ship visits down and the average inflation over twelve months increased with 0.4 percent points to 6.8 percent, compared to the same month in 2008

The Central Bank of Aruba (CBA) concludes that the Aruban economy is declining further. The revenues of the ‘bbo’-tax in March dropped with 8.7 percent compared to the same period last year. The revenues are a reflection of the profit mainly generated in the month before.

The number of overnight stays on the island during the months of February and March decreased, as well as the number of tourists residing on the island, as previously known. The number of residing tourists during the months of February and March decreased with respectively 7.7 and 13.3 percent compared to the same months in 2008. The number of overnight stays decreased with respectively 6.2 and 10.7 percent.

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Italian Cruise Ship Msc Melody Fends off a Pirate Attack off Somalia Coast

The Somalia pirates are at it again, this time they attack the Italian Cruise ship Msc Melody. Private security guards on board an Italian cruise ship fired shots and used water hoses to fend off Somalia pirates late Saturday.

An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits.

Six men in a small, white Zodiac-type boat approached the Msc Melody at about 1730 GMT Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons, Msc Cruises director Domenico Pellegrino said. They retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses. The ship continued its journey with its windows darkened.

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Another Overboard on Cruise Ship … Cruise Ship Worker Falls Overboard Carnival Sensation

It’s ahppened again. This time, an employee of  Carnival cruise, a member of the entertainment staff, has fallen overboard the Carnival Sensation cruise ship. The eyewitness accounts indicate that the worker clearly went overboard accidentally. What is going on with cruise ships and people not being able to stay aboard them these days? They may want to consider putting a safety net all the way around the boat like the circus does with the trapeze act. The search is underway for the missing overboard cruise ship employee.

The Coast Guard is searching for a cruise ship employee who fell overboard early Thursday off Florida’s east coast.

Six fellow employees saw the off-duty entertainment staff member fall overboard at 12:40 a.m. ET, a Carnival Cruise Lines statement said.

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36 Year Old Jennifer Seitz Missing Aboard Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship Near Cancun, Mexico … Reported Fallen Overboard

36 year old Jennifer Seitz was reported missing on Friday, December 26, 2008 at 5:00 AM EDT. Seitz was aboard the Norwegian Pearl when she reportedly fell from the cruise ship. Search efforts have found no sign of Jennifer Feitz who fell into the sea from the cruise ship east of Isla Mujeres,” an island just off the coast from Cancun. The husband of 36 year old Jennifer Feitz told cruise ship personnel about 3:50 a.m. that he couldn’t find her.

Three Mexican Navy boats and a helicopter were searching the waters off the Caribbean resort of Cancun on Friday for an American woman who reportedly fell from a cruise ship, authorities said.

A U.S. Coast Guard search-and-rescue crew using a Falcon jet halted its efforts to find 36-year-old Jennifer Seitz late Friday, but will resume Saturday morning using a larger C-130 aircraft, said Petty Officer Third Class Nick Ameen.

Feitz’s husband reported her missing from the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship just before 5 a.m. EST Friday. Her hometown was not available.

 CNN: Searchers see no sign of missing cruise ship passenger

The search was centered about 15 miles east of Cancun, Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen, a Coast Guard spokesman.

“Initial reports indicate the guest may have gone overboard while the ship was at sea, east of Cancun,” a spokeswoman for the Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement.

AnneMarie Mathews said the ship left Miami on Sunday on a seven-day western Caribbean cruise.

To discuss the case more and provide your own insight and opinion, go to Scared Monkeys.net: Missing Persons Forum.

UPDATE I: Missing Cruise Passenger Could Be Alive in Warm Waters of Mexico’s Gulf Coast

UPDATE II: Family of Missing Jennifer Ellis-Seitz Believe she Jumped

The family of missing Jennifer Ellis-Seitz have stated that she suffered from emotional problems in the past. They do not believe that there was foul play, only an unfortunate ending to her life.

Family members on Monday said she previously had suffered from emotional problems.

“The family suspects that Jennifer chose an unfortunate ending to her life,” family members said in a press release e-mailed to FLORIDA TODAY. “She was a beautiful and caring person and will be truly missed by all who love her.”

Family members say that Ellis-Seitz and her husband, Raymond, were celebrating their one-year anniversary on the cruise. They had invited Ellis’ mother along.

“There were no outward signs or indication of anything being wrong or unusual,” both families said in the joint statement. “Jennifer, however, has had previous emotional issues.”

UPDATE III: Missing Cruise Passenger Was Bipolar

UPDATE IV: Missing Cruise Passenger Probe May Take Weeks

Court records show Raymond Seitz was arrested in April after Ellis-Seitz called 911 and told authorities he grabbed her wrist when they were arguing and hit her forehead with his forehead. About two weeks later, she signed a written statement saying she wanted the charges dismissed.

In the written statement, she said “the charges are overblown and that there were underlying aggravations, including my own actions.”

Court records show Seitz completed a domestic violence course and that charges against him were dismissed.

Jennifer Hagel Smith, Widow of Missing George Smith Says He Mixed Alcohol & Prescription Drugs the Night He Went Missing

George Allen Smith IV vanished from a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean July 5, 2005. Now after all this time, Jennifer Hagel Smith says, it was alcohol and prescription drugs as Hagel Smith throws George Smith and his reputation under the bus.

So much for not speaking ill of the dead when they cannot defend themselves. Especially when the deceased person is your missing and presumed dead husband. However, Jennifer Hagel Smith for some reason now feels the need to drag the memory of missing honeymooner George Allen Smith IV through the mud. Jennifer Hagel Smith claimed in court that George Smith mixed prescription drugs with alcohol the night he vanished three years ago on the Mediterranean Sea.

Jennifer Hagel Smith said her husband’s family has refused to acknowledge the possibility that George Smith’s intoxication may have been a factor in an accidental death. She said they have insisted Smith was a victim of foul play.

Richard Sheeley, Hagel Smith’s attorney, said Smith’s parents and sister have “conjured up a conspiracy that never existed between the cruise line, investigators and, eventually, even the young woman they once welcomed into their family as a daughter.”

Jennifer Hagel Smith was in Superior Court responding to a legal challenge by Smith’s relatives to a nearly $1.1 million settlement she received from Royal Caribbean cruise line.

Fox News: Widow Says Husband Who Disappeared on Cruise Mixed Alcohol, Prescription Drugs

Missing man’s widow says he mixed booze with pills

Doesn’t this remind one of the phrase, in all due respect? Jennifer Hagel Smith states that she is not saying that prescription drugs and alcohol caused her husband’s death … she’s just saying. Well if we are to take that tact Miss Hagel Smith then there are many things and people that could have been responsible for George Smith’s death isn’t there???

Hagel Smith is not saying the prescription drugs and alcohol caused her husband’s death, Sheeley said.

“But it could have contributed to an accident that caused his death,” he said.

The claim that George Smith used alcohol and prescription drugs the night he disappeared came in a new legal filing Friday in Stamford Superior Court.

He (Hagel Smith attorney) said that there was only a “spec” of blood found in the cabin, and that what was originally believed to be blood on a towel turned out to be makeup. No wonder there was no blood in the cabin … it was all below on the deck!

So why does Jennifer Hagel Smith only now bring up the prescription drug and alcohol angle? She blames the relatives of George Smith for her actions. You know, George Smith’s loved ones who actually want answers. Unlike Jennifer Hagel Smith and Royal Caribbean who would want to hide what happened forever in a million dollar settlement. Why wouldn’t George Smith’s family be upset over the Hagel Smith/Royal Caribbean settlement? The family wanted justice for George, not money!

Michael Jones, a lawyer for Smith’s family, said Sheeley’s comments were not accurate, but declined to elaborate. He said Smith’s family continues to believe he was a victim of foul play.

Hagel Smith did not want to disclose her husband’s use of prescription drugs, but was forced to do so because of his family’s “relentless” litigation, Sheeley said.

Hagel Smith has received numerous documents, including cabin access records and statements made to investigators, Sheeley said.

Memorial Tree Grows Taller; Smith Family Fights on

Economic Slow Down Spells Tourism Worries for Caribbean (Aruba, Puerto Rico …)

The first things to go when there is an economic slow down are the luxuries. One such luxury to Americans are vacations abroad. Thus with the soaring fuel costs and a worrisome US economy, the Caribbean tourism waits in the balance to see the effects of high ticket prices and reduced airline flight. The result will be a decline in tourism to the Caribbean. The second thing to remember is discounted hotel rates to meet hotel occupancy standards mean that occupancy rates are no longer comparable from year to year.

Expensive jet fuel and a soft American economy are threatening to sink Caribbean tourism as airline ticket prices soar and flights are sharply reduced, choking the flow of the vacationers that many tiny islands depend upon.

Tourism is the economic cornerstone of the Caribbean, which drew more than 15 million visitors last year to colonial cities and carefree beaches.

”Billions of dollars of investment are being exposed and thousands of jobs are being exposed,” said Allen Chastanet, chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

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Mindy Jordan Falls Overboard Norwegian Dawn Cruise Ship … Accident or Foul Play? Video Says Accident, FBI Does Not Close Case

Accident or Foul Play? FBI is still investigating and has not closed the case.

Mindy Jordan has been missing since Sunday, May 11, 2008 when she went overboard while on the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship. Since her disappearance it has been speculated whether Mindy Jordan’s fall was an accident or some thing more heinous. Was it an accident or was their foul play? Was she alone or was there any one else present when she went overboard?

Norwegian Dawn

According to the Norwegian Cruise ship company, there is surveillance video tape of 46 year old Mindy Jordan falling overboard. Norwegian Cruise is also stating that Mindy Jordan was alone. However, the FBI is continuing to investigate the incident and have released no conclusions.

In a written statement issued last night, Norwegian Cruise Line said video from surveillance cameras stationed in hallways and on the ship’s exterior has “confirmed that Mindy Jordan was in her stateroom alone at the time of the incident.”

The cruise line also released a timeline indicating that Jordan and Caputo dined with another couple on the ship that evening, and that the two couples returned to their adjacent staterooms at 7:28 p.m.

Eight minutes later, Caputo left the room he shared with Jordan and went next door to visit the other couple, according to the cruise line. 

“From that moment on, Mindy was alone in her stateroom,” the cruise line said in the statement. “At 7:53 p.m., surveillance cameras from the exterior of the ship capture Mindy falling overboard from her balcony, straight into the water.”

In a statement released Tuesday, the cruise line said initial reports indicated that Jordan was trying to climb between balconies when she fell overboard.

FBI begins probe of fall from cruise ship

FBI: Case of woman’s fall from cruise ship not closed

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